Revival, by Stephen King

Involves an aging rock-and-roll guitar player and his longtime relationship with an ex-preacher who has lost his faith in God and has turned to experimenting with "secret electricity."  It's not the best book I've read by King, but it was nonetheless captivating. The hocus-pocus is mostly crap, and of a predictable type, but the underlying philosophy is rather disturbing. I won't reveal more in case you want to read the book some day.

King uses some elements of carnival culture in this novel, which reminds me of Joyland,  which I read not too long ago. It seems that he didn't waste any leftover research from that effort.

Godforsaken Idaho, by Shawn Vestal

A short story collection.

LA Times Review by William Boyle. 21 August 2013.

A quote from an email I sent to a friend about this book:

... I am almost done reading Godforsaken Idaho, a collection of short stories by Shawn Vestal. How good it is: I wish it were three times longer. There may be other chronicles of the lower-class victims of Joe Smith, et al, but I haven't read any. This stuff really needed writing.

Now that I think of it: be careful. I think that the book has done a little something to my mental state. If you're feeling fragile (long winter, all that), perhaps wait a while and pick it up in the dog days of August. Just sayin.

The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold

Susie, at age fourteen, is raped and murdered by a neighbor, Mr. Harvey. For the rest of the book, Susie narrates the story from her vantage point in heaven.

While this is almost too poignant, it is handled fairly well. We see the effect that Susie's death has on her family and friends, and follow them for several years afterward.